Reaching 50 years old
The AKNO Group was founded in 1971 and is therefore celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. This milestone makes quite an impression, not only because five decades of company life is a remarkable legacy to which we rightly feel very attached, but above all because looking back, we can see how far we have come so far, starting from a very different reality from the one we have today.
In 1971, the Vietnam War was in full swing, John Lennon was writing ‘Imagine’, and the oil shock had not yet shaken our idea of road transport. It was quite a different world. The decision to become a builder of industrial and civil buildings had very different prospects from those that, with the changing economic and social conditions, have emerged in the decades since, right up to the present day.
For AKNO, reaching 50 years of age means, for the most part, having overcome a series of crises and economic upheavals, continuing to work with the same care and enthusiasm as on the first day, always keeping the focus on the imperative of creating value by building spaces for work or private life.
A long journey in which the focus on innovation has been the red thread running through these years and which characterises us today as it did back then, with the ability to continually renew ourselves by listening to the needs of a changing world, seeking quality and safety in the spaces it asks us to build.
In our logistics structures, such as business parks, as well as in those for civil real estate, we are now trying to put into practice all the experience we have gained in our first 50 years of business and to combine it with continuous research into new technical solutions, new organisational methods and new projects to offer our international clientele.
Business parks and logistics facilities
There is no doubt that, especially in Italy, AKNO‘s name is linked to the construction of industrial logistics facilities and, in particular, to the idea of business parks, which are the pride of our company and an example of integrated logistics that receives international recognition.
When we started thinking about business parks, we focused on the idea that the places where goods pass through daily on their way between manufacturing companies and distribution sites could be something more and better than just a strategically located covered and guarded space. We envisaged integrating the warehouses with comfortable office spaces that could accommodate not only the logistics staff but also adding a range of services such as catering, gyms and retail shops to make attractive what had hitherto been seen as a transit area; finally, we envisaged hotels where people using the logistics park could stay.
However, business parks are not only the integration of facilities and services in a space with continuous surveillance, but they are also built using state-of-the-art construction techniques, paying particular attention to energy saving and reducing environmental impact. The spaces in our logistics parks are equipped with large green areas designed with attention to detail and an all-Italian aesthetic taste because to work well, no doubt about it, you also need to be hosted in welcoming, people-friendly environments that give the companies operating there a winning, positive image in the eyes of customers and suppliers.
AKNO‘s strength in these 50 years of activity has also been its ability to provide its customers with turnkey buildings, built in every detail from design to final delivery, and also offering subsequent management services. Acting as General Contractor through its subsidiary AKNO Engineering & Construction and as Property Manager through AKNO Management Services, our company is considered to be at a level of absolute excellence in terms of customer satisfaction, nationally and internationally.
AKNO’s civil buildings
In AKNO‘s decades of history, however, there are not only logistics and business parks but also many civil construction projects that have engaged our technicians, particularly outside our national borders.
Ever since AKNO was founded, our company has been operating in Switzerland, with a specific division, AKNO Suisse, which has carried out many renovations, restructurings and refunctionalization projects for civil buildings of historical value, particularly in Lugano.
Since 2006 we have also been operating in North America, both in the USA and in Canada, using our experience in the enhancement of historic buildings in ambitious projects, such as the Canada Building, a fascinating art déco style office-tower built in Ontario in 1928, or the Book Tower of 1916, an annexe to the previous Book Building, a neo-renaissance jewel in the centre of Detroit.
AKNO‘s 50 years are an event to be celebrated, always looking to the future, with the awareness that combining technical expertise, love for our stakeholders, love of beauty and attention to the environment is the best way to create quality architecture always in step with every social and historical change.
Find out more
Il QI:
https://www.ilqi.it/post/quotidiano-immobiliare/12/367379-il-gruppo-akno-celebra-50-anni-di-attivit
MONITOR IMMOBILIARE:
https://www.monitorimmobiliare.it/gruppo-akno-50-anni-di-attivita_202132991
IMPRESE EDILI:
https://www.impresedilinews.it/50-anni-di-attivita-nel-settore-immobiliare-ed-edilizio-civile-ed-industriale/
